"The Story of An Hour" by Kate Chopin is quite an interesting short story that can be extremely confusing if not critically analyzed. The story can be confusing because the main character Mrs. Mallard receives news of her husband's death, and her reaction is both sad and joyful which can be confusing to readers. She indicates that she felt abandonment following the news of her husband's death yet later in the story she had felt joy followed by her saying free three times. The author makes it clear that she did in fact love her husband but not all the time and the author mentioned that she loved her husband sometimes and that often she had not. The story makes it evident that there is some sort of questionable attributes to the relationship between Mrs. Millard and her husband and it's evident that Mrs. Millard feels both sad and joy from the news of her husband's death. The story also has an ironic twist because the story ends with her husband entering after his travel which reveals that the news was in fact fake but at that point Mrs. Millard had went through the emotional rollercoaster and had suffered from death as a result of her weak heart which was mentioned in the beginning of the story. Sections of the story focus on setting the tone and speaks about various external factors such as the room and the ambient setting that helped paint the picture for readers and analyzing these factors reveals deeper context to the story. When analyzing the story at a high level, it becomes evident that Mrs. Millard feels saddened and abandonment in front of her sister and her sister's husband but behind closed doors in her room the joy creeps out and takes over her emotions. When you think about closed doors, people typically think about the deepest darkest secrets being discussed behind closed doors and people tend to act presentable when they are with others. This story highlights how Mrs. Millard true feelings takes over once she's by herself behind closed doors locked away from her sister and sister's husband reveal the possibility of a trouble relation but her and her husband.
Good overview. The significance of being behind closed doors is an interesting one... are there other ways that is imaged/questioned in the story? Symbols of open v closed are important throughout...
ReplyDeleteI like the way you analyzed her emotions from start to finish. She does seem to put a front on front of her sister and her husbands friend, but deep down inside she felt joy because she thought she had freedom. But unfortunately she would die, which is pretty sad.
ReplyDeleteThank you for these insights, Hosna. I also appreciate your observations about the closed door. We often hide our secrets behind closed mental doors or "skeletons in our closet"; yet, in further reflection, many of us are also hiding our unbridled joys away too!
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